Farnell element14

Farnell element14
Public
Industry Electronics
Founded 1939
Headquarters Leeds, UK
Key people
 Peter Birks, Business President, Sales & Marketing of Farnell element14
Parent Premier Farnell
Website uk.farnell.com

Farnell element14 is a high service distributor of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair.[1][2] Operating in 28 countries across Europe, with two regional distribution hubs in Belgium and the UK,[3] it employs over 1200 people.[4]

It is the European trading brand of global electronics distributor Premier Farnell plc, which is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index listed on the London Stock Exchange.

History

The company was founded by Alan Farnell and Arthur Woffenden in 1939 in Leeds under the name of A.C. Farnell Limited. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1966. The company was located next to the Wetherby railway station: as it grew it moved into larger offices on the town's Sandbeck Industrial Estate, and then in 1995, into offices in Armley.[5] Originally selling radio parts it later broadened its product range to focus on the wholesale market.[6]

In 1996, it went on to buy the Premier Industrial Corporation, a leading United States distributor,[7] and in doing so changed its name to Premier Farnell.[8]

Premier Farnell underwent rapid strategic transformation starting in the mid-2000s, from what was essentially a catalogues and trade counter business into a major e-commerce operation operating globally. The then CEO, Harriet Green, presided over these changes from 2006, culminating in her being awarded the OBE in 2010 for services to the electronics industry, before moving on to Thomas Cook Group on 30 July 2012.[9][10]

These changes emphasised a focus on the high-margin electronic design engineering sector, while maintaining a strong core business in engineering maintenance, repair and operations. Ensuring that the company was well prepared for the introduction of the EU’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS) on 1 July 2006 saw Premier Farnell reap increased sales of 13.7% across Europe.[11]

Premier Farnell introduced the element14 brand name in 2010, replacing the legacy brands of Premier Electronics, Farnell and Farnell-Newark with Farnell element14 and Newark element14. The name was taken from silicon, the 14th element in the Periodic Table, which is widely used in electronic components such as integrated circuits and discrete semiconductors. Green also championed diversity, setting targets to make sure that every recruitment shortlist for the middle and senior management posts had a mix of people to ensure "the best chance of getting the best person to do the job in question".[12][13]

The company has continued to innovate under Green’s successor, Laurence Bain, who has introduced a major upgrade to the website’s core functionality, coded New Web Platform, which has been several years in development and is purported to greatly improve the customer’s user experience.[14]

Community

element14 is also the name of Premier Farnell's global online community of design engineers and hobbyists that was set up to share ideas, knowledge and solve challenges. It is the largest online community of its type in the world. element14 has over 300,000[15] registered users, as of March 2015.[16]

The high-profile American console modder and Internet celebrity, Benjamin Heckendorn (better known as “Ben Heck”), hosts the popular weekly online TV program Ben Heck Show for the element14 community. As of May 2015, the show had recorded 25 million views worldwide. In a typical episode, Ben creates a new product or hacks existing devices, such as an Xbox, for different uses.[17][18]

Products

Farnell element14 stocks over 600,000 products from over 3,500 suppliers including Vishay, TE Connectivity, Molex, Microchip Technology, National Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Epcos, KEMET Corporation, Altera, Omron, Bridgelux, Texas Instruments and Panasonic.[19]

It is one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of the Raspberry Pi miniature computer and it brought production of this device to the UK in September 2012, creating 30 extra jobs at Sony’s Pencoed plant near Bridgend, Wales.[20][21] It is one of only two distributors worldwide.[22]

Development kits (often called ‘dev kits’) are a major specialism of Farnell element14. These are hardware kits typically centred around a particular microprocessor or microcontroller and are used by design engineers to develop and prototype new products. A survey of engineers on the element14 Community identified the big areas for the market in 2014-2015 as being lighting control, sensing and wireless. Another growth area for Farnell element14 is the Internet of Things (IoT), which was the predominant theme at its stall at the electronica fair held in Munich on 11-14 November 2014, showcasing element14 IoT products such as the RIoTboard.[23][24]

The BBC announced on 7 July 2015 that it was launching a new computer device called the micro:bit that would be given to every Year 7 school pupil in the UK (amounting to around one million computers) in October 2015 as part of its Make It Digital initiative. Farnell element14 was named as one of the major partners in the consortium behind the micro:bit, taking responsibility for sourcing of components and overseeing the manufacturing process.[25][26]

Awards

The company has won numerous awards and accolades over the years for its business practices, distribution performance and commitment to its people and the environment.[27]

Farnell element14 won the "Diverse Company Award" category in the 2013 UK National Diversity Awards.[28][29]

It was awarded "Platinum Big Tick" status for the fourth year in a row in 2014 in the BiTC Corporate Responsibility Index [30][31]

Other recent awards and accolades include Technology Provider 2013 in the Yorkshire Business Insider International Trade Awards, the Business Desk Business Masters Award 2013, an entry on the Ethisphere Institute's World’s Most Ethical Companies List 2013, four categories in the Electronics Choice Industry Awards 2013, silver prize in the Green Apple Environment Awards 2013 and numerous awards from manufacturers including Phoenix Contact (2014), Harting and Camden Boss. [32]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Our Company -what we do". Premier Farnell. 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "High service, high expectations". New Electronics. 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Our Company - our brands". Premier Farnell. 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "About us". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  5. ↑ "Farnell: Armley office workers give school makeover". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  6. ↑ "Our history". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "pounds 1.9bn Premier buy to propel Farnell into Footsie". The Independent. 24 January 1996. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  8. ↑ "Our history". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Thomas Cook's Harriet Green: 'My challenge in life is achieving balance'". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Harriet Green, CEO Premier Farnell awarded O.B.E for services to the electronics industry". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "Premier Farnell sees a boost from RoHS business". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Thomas Cook's Harriet Green: 'My challenge in life is achieving balance'". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Harriet Green, CEO Premier Farnell awarded O.B.E for services to the electronics industry". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Premier Farnell hails overseas progress". The Business Desk. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Global Study Reveals Importance of IoT to Developing Economies". Control Engineering Asia. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Now it’s Raspberry Pi the sequel as Premier releases new version". Yorkshire Post. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Ben Heck". The Setup. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "element14’s The Ben Heck Show". element14. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Farnell element14 product range". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  20. ↑ "500,000 Pis in Wales". Raspberry Pi Foundation. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "Raspberry Pi production moves to Wales from China". BBC. 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "Raspberry Pi FAQs". Raspberry Pi Foundation. 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "What next for the dev kit?". New Electronics. 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  24. ↑ "element14 to Make IoT a Reality at Embedded World 2014". Control Engineering Asia. 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  25. ↑ "Groundbreaking initiative to inspire digital creativity and develop a new generation of tech pioneers". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  26. ↑ Stuart Dredge. "BBC Micro Bit will complement Raspberry Pi not compete with it". The Guardian.
  27. ↑ "Awards & Certifications". Farnell UK. 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  28. ↑ "Farnell element14: Winner of the National Diversity Awards 2013". National Diversity Awards. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Farnell Element 14 diversity award win Electronics Yorkshire News, 26 September 2013
  30. ↑ "All award results 2013". Business in the Community. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  31. ↑ "Premier Farnell awarded Platinum Big Tick in Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index". Farnell UK. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  32. ↑ "Awards & Certifications". Farnell UK. 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.